By Michael Wilbon
Tuesday, April 4, 2006; E01
INDIANAPOLIS We had better grow accustomed very quickly to seeing Joakim Noah, the way we grew accustomed to seeing Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon play in the big games. Maybe it'll be in college again; Noah, after all, is only a sophomore.
Perhaps he'll never be as dominant as those other giants, both of whom made multiple appearances in the Final Four. But Noah does have something Ewing has and Olajuwon doesn't: an NCAA championship. UCLA had nobody who could match his performance or passion, and the result was a 73-57 Florida victory.
The kid with the French Open champion for a father and the Swedish beauty queen for a mother, led the Florida Gators to their first NCAA basketball championship here Monday night. He scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds, blocked six shots, handed out three assists, energized his teammates, demoralized UCLA, handled the ball in pressure situations and, in general, looked like a new-age giant, a player who influences the game in various ways.
Any team that has the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft and doesn't take Noah, should he make himself available in the coming weeks, would be unbelievably dumb.
He was the MVP of this championship game, and there didn't need to be a vote. The ayes have it when it comes to this kid. He did all the obvious stuff, such as finish and block shots, and the subtle things, too, such as deliver the sweetest entry passes and set jarring screens. With good health and the fanatic work ethic he has already exhibited, the heavens are the limit for this kid, who is only a sophomore in college and the son of a professional athlete but nonetheless will feel the tug of tens of millions of dollars and the fame that will be calling him from the professional level.
Noah swears he isn't ready for the NBA yet, but after this tournament, don't listen to him. This kid has played his final college game, in all probability. If his offense gets no better in the next two years than it is now, which is below average, he would still have a huge impact in the pro game with his defense, passing and the sheer energy he puts forth during a game.
Usually, I'm a stay-in-school guy. Most of these kids aren't half as good as they think they are, especially the ones with too many sycophant buddies and gold-digging family members. Noah, on the other hand, is that rare kid who is better than he thinks he is. Of course, he could add some polish by staying in college another year. That could be said of every player in the history of basketball. But his apprenticeship at the college level is over.
When Magic and Isiah won the NCAA tournament, it was time to go . . . and they went. They certainly weren't finished products, but their work on the amateur level was done. This isn't to suggest Noah will ever have the impact in pro ball of Magic and Isiah, with seven NBA championships between them. But winning this title means that it's time to try the next level.
With more than a minute to play in the first half Monday night, Noah had set a new record for shots blocked in a championship game. He recorded five of his six blocked shots in those first 20 minutes. He caused two traveling violations when Bruins shuffled their feet to get away from him rather than having their shots blocked. So, it could have been seven. He had two assists, but that number doesn't take into account how quickly and decisively he tossed the ball into the post in order for Al Horford to make a move or Corey Brewer to get his feet set before getting off a jumper.
When he wasn't blocking shots, or making Bruins travel, Noah was rebounding. And when he wasn't grabbing the ball off the glass, he was setting screens, or if not that then screaming encouragement at his teammates. He's all scowls and frowns and exultation, this kid. Even the kid's face is into the game.
How do you think the New York Knicks are feeling right now? They'll have a good shot at winning the draft lottery -- and the Chicago Bulls own their pick. Would you not want a kid who on the eve of the NCAA championship game says he can't wait to get back to the Rucker League games this summer to work on his game?
It doesn't matter that nobody even knew who Noah was a month ago; we know him now. We know now that he can put the ball between his legs and behind his back and handle it in traffic like a small forward when the mood suits him or when the guards aren't available. We know now he can jump two or three times for a ball coming off the rim while his opponent is gathering and bracing himself to jump just once.
Noah wasn't the only Florida player who played well Monday night. Brewer continually sneaked up behind UCLA ballhandlers and either picked them clean (three times) or disrupted the Bruins' offense. Horford (14 points, seven rebounds) formed a nice double-team around the basket with Noah and the two of them were way too much for UCLA's 7-footer Ryan Hollins to handle. And Lee Humphrey, the Gators' reluctant shooter whom Billy Donovan has to threaten at halftime to shoot the ball more, blew open the game right after halftime with a couple of killer threes.
The Gators, as they showed against George Mason two nights earlier, proved to be long, lean, explosive, skilled, deep and well-coached. Donovan shouldn't have to answer for quite some time thequestions about whether he can coach as well as he can recruit. He became only the third coach in NCAA history -- Dean Smith and Bob Knight are the others -- to play in the Final Four and coach a team to the championship.
For the rest of the night, the player worth watching more than any other player -- more than the game itself -- was Yannick Noah's boy, Joakim.
When UCLA's quickies started to swarm Humphrey and Taurean Green, the Gators would just throw it high to Noah. There's no such thing as too high, because he's 6-11 1/2 , jumps like a kangaroo and then has the skill to dribble across the timeline without any help. How discouraging was that for UCLA, to smother the guards and get beat up the court by somebody as tall as Shaq?
The only folks as sick as the Knicks after watching this have to be at Georgetown. Noah, remember, went to Big John Thompson's basketball camps during the summers of his youth. He'd hang out with his best friend, Patrick Ewing Jr. in Potomac, and wait for another session of camp. A week or so ago, he called Georgetown his "dream school," but he went to Florida because Georgetown wasn't quick to recruit him. You think the Hoyas might still be playing if Noah was wearing gray-and-blue instead of orange-and-blue? Probably, because he's been the best player here in Indy. He was the best player in Minneapolis, and the best player in Jacksonville before that. His 29 blocked shots are a tournament record, shattering the previous record of 24 set in 2001 by Arizona's Loren Woods.
"It doesn't just feel good," Noah said. "It smells good . . . it tastes good."
It feels, smells and tastes like a championship.
